Welcome to Twin Speech, Language & Literacy LLC! (Previously known as Twin Sisters Speech and Language Therapy LLC). Our mission is to make original theme based materials that are both useful and fun! We strive to make every single therapy session interactive, enjoyable, and very beneficial! We love being speech therapists and enjoy knowing that our students want to come back each and every week!

Thursday, May 8, 2014

Feed Maxi App Review and Giveaway!

I had one of those moments we all just wait for in the life of a Speech-Language Pathologist. This moment is the "breakthrough". It came at an unexpected time, and it was marvelous! Let me give some background before I tell the story: I had the honor of being contacted by the wonderful folks at Speak Eazy Apps about a month ago. They asked if Manda and I could do a review of their app named Feed Maxi. We tried it out for several weeks in our speech room. This is when "IT" happened. My non-verbal three- year old autistic dx'd client came into the speech room. He seemed to be looking for something. I watched him as he looked through his sensory bin of toys, as he went around the bouncer he loves, and even past the spinner he loves even more. He stopped by my desk and started uncovering some materials I keep stationed there. That is when the moment happened: He showed me what he had been looking for, and it was my Ipad! He opened it up, looked for a minute at all of the icons, found Feed Maxi and watched it as it began. Bang- there it was- THE HUGE SMILE! I had showed him the Feed Maxi app the week prior and he remembered it. This is what he wanted to see again! The level of communication and the strategies he utilized to begin this wonderful exchange was beyond this SLP's hearts wonder. Thank you so much Speak Eazy, your app has already made a difference in the life of one of my precious clients who usually has a difficulty communicating in any way, and I know it must be doing the same with others trying it out as well!

Read below for further details on this wonderful app. If you too can see someone you work with that could benefit from this app be sure to enter the Rafflecopter give away below. Speak Eazy has generously donated five codes for five lucky people who have read this Twin Sisters Speech & Language Therapy app review!!

Feed Maxi was developed by a speech- language pathologist named, Pamela Mandell. Maxi is a fun and interactive monkey who just loves food! The purpose of this app is to help develop the ability to identify, follow directions and understand simple sign language in the early years population. Its intended audience is toddlers, preschoolers, children with special needs, and young children with limited English proficiency. I tried this app with a child in each one of those categories and found it beneficial to use with each one. One child's target was communication exchange, another was learning sign, another was identification between three objects, and another was imitating early speech sounds. I was able to use this app for each of these children and find it beneficial as part of their speech therapy sessions. The parents were also impressed to see the positive effects and fun interaction their child had with the app and each parent showed interest in purchasing the app for their child's home use as well. There are several other goals for this app, as well, that can be targeted such as: concentration, categorization skills, cause/effect skills, print recognition and visual scanning with fine motor control. Feed Maxi has the ability to collect group therapy data for up to five children. It will record how the student does on the level. I began collecting data for one student who I am assessing for the ability to begin an AAC device with one, two or three choices. It features the ability to email results to yourself or the student's caregivers. It is able to be turned on and off for voice sounds. In the options area, I also had the ability to select which food item and which food category that I would like to have featured. There is also the ability to select the level of play such as easy, moderate or difficult. In addition, in the options section the parent can choose parental control to help reduce level changes as the child plays. I found it beneficial to select which foods that were being seen since some words were multisyllabic (i.e. cauliflower) or were unrecognizable (as in the case of some foods that weren't consumed by my Spanish speaking student).Each student was very motivated to interact with Maxi. He is fun! The app features real pictures of food and Maxi asks for the child to pick a food that he has named. A pleasant voice is used and he shows fun and immediate feedback. The most loved interaction I noticed with my caseload was when he asks for the student to "give him five". They would touch the screen and he would say that they were "so strong". Every time my students would laugh at that! After several interactions (depending on which level the student is working on) a wonderful interactive page would be rewarded to the student. They would be able to touch different parts of the screen and it would move. Balloons fall from the top of the screen, as well, and once the student pops them the foods they have just worked on would be reinforced by them hearing and seeing them once again. Maxi eats them again too. This was also very motivating for each student and they just loved it. One student said to me, "He is so funny, but eats so much!". ha! Yes, Maxi is hungry but so fun and motivating too!I highly recommend that you try out this app with your young communicators. It's just fun and functional! It's only $2.99 in the ITunes store, but you can also try out your luck to win one in the giveaway below. Good luck!